Short Cuts: Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge has landed, emotional opening for Melbourne festival and more from Australian film

Mel's film lands in Sydney

With a production office set up and crew signing on, Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge has found a shooting location. The Hollywood star's first film as director in almost a decade will be based at Sydney's Fox Studios after scouting for locations around the country. No doubt with production support from Screen NSW, the movie will be based in NSW, with pre-production getting under way. Andrew Garfield will star as a conscientious objector who becomes a World War II hero.

Emotional opening for festival

Artistic director Michelle Carey expects an emotional opening for Melbourne International Film Festival on Thursday night. Director Paul Cox, who is ailing with cancer, will launch the festival with Force of Destiny, the drama inspired by his lifesaving liver transplant. "It's a subdued but very engaging and moving film," Carey says. "I think there's going to be a lot of warmth and celebration there. Paul is going to be surrounded by a lot of friends and family and the filmmaking industry." Carey says ticket sales have been tracking "really well" after a buoyant festival for attendance last year. "We're very, very confident it's going to be another strong year," she says. The hottest tickets include the Cannes buzz title The Lobster, directed by Greece's Yorgos Lanthimos, Grant Scicluna's​ Australian drama Downriver ("we've just announced a fourth screening"), Molly Reynolds' doco Another Country, the Australian films The Daughter, Holding the Man and Pawno and American documentary The Wolfpack. "The Australian films always sell so well," Carey says. Just added to the program is Joel Edgerton's directorial debut The Gift, with the actor turned filmmaker speaking at a Q&A session.

New role: The Amazing Spiderman's Andrew Garfield is to star in Mel Gibson's latest film.

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Hidden sparkling treasure

Always looking for an inside tip, Short Cuts asked Carey for a hidden treasure in the Melbourne International Film Festival program that readers might otherwise miss. "The one I really love that might not be on people's radar is My Golden Days, a French film by Arnaud Desplechin​," she says. "It's just a really classic upbeat coming-of-age film. It's edited in a really high-energy way. It's got a terrific early '90s pop soundtrack." The film has Mathieu Amalric​ as an anthropologist who recounts his youth when he is detained for interrogation at a Paris airport. It's a time that included political troubles and a tumultuous love affair.

Film and TV Downturn

Australian film and television production had a sharp downturn last financial year and is expected to fall further in the current year. Revealing the figures at an industry briefing in Sydney, Screen Australia chief executive Graeme Mason said production expenditure would be substantially down on the $837 million in the previous financial year. But rather than a cause for alarm, Mason said it was due to the collapse of foreign investment in Australian film and TV production and a decline in ABC drama spending. After a second consecutive cut in the last federal budget, Screen Australia's spending on production dipped from $77 million to $66.8 million last financial year but is expected to be slightly higher at $67 million this financial year. Spending on feature films dipped from $24.1 million to $19.1 million but is expected to recover to $20 million to $22 million. Lest the film industry think the Screen Australia office has been cushioned from the budget cuts, Mason said the agency had gone from more than 200 staff to fewer than 100 since it was formed with the merger of three other agencies in 2008, with operating costs cut from $29 million to $16.7 million.

Heading for opening night at the Melbourne International Film Festival: Force of Destiny star David Wenham with director Paul Cox. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

Property market could be a film boost

Could Sydney's booming property market be a windfall for Australian filmmakers? Screen Australia is selling the site of the former Film Australia in Sydney's leafy Lindfield with expectations that it could sell for more than $30 million. Chief operating officer Fiona Cameron is hoping the agency can quarantine at least half that figure from the federal government to boost film and television production. "It would be great to be able to retain the Lindfield sale proceeds, or some thereof, but that will be a matter for government," she says. There are already plans to allocate the funding should it land. Says Cameron: "Initiatives we'd like to see funded include an online distribution pilot to help support and promote the right projects to distribute online, a Multi-platform Accelerator scheme to build online and interactive businesses and Indigenous Enterprise to support a new wave of Indigenous talent and capture for new generations culturally significant Indigenous Songline stories across Australia."

That Sugar Film breaks record

It would have been highly unlikely when it was released but That Sugar Film has overtaken Bra Boys to become the country's highest-grossing documentary in Australian cinemas, outside IMAX releases. With director and star Damon Gameau​ appearing at more than 70 Q&A sessions around the country, the documentary about our growing addiction to sugar consumption has taken $1.7 million. Madman Entertainment's Paul Wiegard​ says it is too early to know if the film has had an impact on the nation's health. "What is clear is that the message has had an impact," he says. "With cinemas full of audiences across generations, hundreds of resource kits going out to schools and a number of health industry and corporate partners taking up the message, it's clear people are rethinking their attitudes towards sugar in the diet as a result of the film."

Our Cate was on the money

Cate Blanchett​ was right. Australian audiences keep proving they want to see the sort of films about women that Blanchett spoke about in her acceptance speech at the Oscars last year. Helped by a publicity tour by Amy Schumer​, the comedy Trainwreck took a strong $1.37 million from previews in Australian cinemas last weekend. That is on top of the strong results for Magic Mike XXL ($10.7 million so far for a movie aimed at women if not centring on them), Pitch Perfect 2,Spy, Cinderella and Fifty Shades of Grey in recent months. Even if the Reese Witherspoon-Sofia Vergara​ comedy Hot Pursuit disappointed, these movies showed Blanchett was right in saying there were mainstream audiences for them.

Ant-Man still big

The only movie to top Trainwreck's previews last weekend was Ant-Man with $3.23 million, taking it to a decent $10.21 million in its first 11 days. Fans of Holland's most famous violinist and conductor took Andre Rieu: 2015 Maastricht Concert to $1.28 million with a strong cinema average of $12,700. Australian comic drama Ruben Guthrie had a soft second week to reach $312,000.

Strong audience: Amy Schumer during her Australian visit to launch Trainwreck. Credit:Fairfax Media

Indian festival guests

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, which runs from August 14 to 27, has announced a strong list of Indian actor and filmmaker guests. Anil Kapoor​, best known outside India as the quizmaster from Slumdog Millionaire, will introduce a screening of Dil Dhadakne Do. Director Rajkumar Hirani​ will appear at a Q&A following the screening of the hit political satire PK. Other guests include actress Sonam Kapoor​, screenwriter-director Shonali Bose and comedian and drag performer Kiku Sharda. The festival opens with the Australian premiere of Sundance audience award-winner Umrika.